USA > Ohio > Women of Ohio; a record of their achievements in the history of the state, Volume I > Part 29
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Lucy Browne taught at Camden, at Morning Sun, and at Fair Haven, Ohio. She became president of the Kansas Federation of Women's Clubs, and a member of the board of directors of the General Federation of Women's Clubs in 1901-1903. Mrs. Johnston was president of Kansas Equal Suffrage Association in 1911-1913, when Kansas voted Equal Suffrage for its women.
EVA WHITE KAH
EVA WHITE KAH, residing in Sidney, is prominently connected with the Daughters of the American Revolution and also with the social and civic affairs of the city. She has been a lifelong resident of Ohio, her birth. place being Washington Courthouse, in which city her parents, Frank C. and Clara (Grove) White, settled following their marriage, which was cele- brated in 1880. Both were natives of Maine, the father having been born at New Gloucester. They had a family of three children, of whom Mrs. Kah is the eldest. The son, Martin Grove White, born in 1884, is now living in San Diego, California, while Alphaeus Frank White, born in 1890, is a resident of Cleveland, Ohio.
Mrs. Kah began her education in the schools of Washington Courthouse, afterward attended high school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and then completed her studies in the excellent Bryn Mawr College of Philadelphia, where she spent three years, majoring in English and Latin. She afterward took up the profession of teaching, which she followed in both Sidney and Washington Courthouse, continuing her educational work until January 3, 1905, when at Washington Courthouse she became the wife of Ralph C. Kah,
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a native of Sidney, where he has long engaged in business, handling real estate, insurance, savings and loans.
In both the paternal and maternal lines Mrs. Kah's ancestors have been in this country since before 1700 and represented in the American Revolution. Mrs. Kah has become active with the Daughters of the American Revolution, her work in this connection bringing her prominently before the public. A resident of Sidney for more than a third of a century, she has a very wide acquaintance here and her social attributes make for popularity, while at all times she is held in the highest regard.
MARY COLE KELLY
MARY COLE KELLY, living at 470 Boardman Road, Youngstown, was born in this city, October 25, 1872, her parents, William Lloyd Garrison and Rebecca (Parker) Cole having settled here earlier in the year. They were natives of Pennsylvania and removed from the Keystone State to Ohio. At the usual age Mrs. Kelly was sent to the public schools and passed through consecutive grades to the high school. She was married July 6, 1893, when in her twenty-first year, to Henry Manning Kelly of Youngstown, and they became parents of a son, Ralph L. Kelly, who married Helen Patton of this city, and they have four children, David Patton, Robert Brinton, Philip Henry and Carol.
Mrs. Kelly belongs to the First Presbyterian Church and her political opinions are indicated in the fact that she is a member of the Women's Republican Club of Youngstown. She belongs to the Daughters of the Amer- ican Revolution and has served on the executive board of her chapter and she is a past president of the Youngstown Federation of Women's Clubs, having been at the head of that organization in 1919-20. She is a charter member of the Clio Club a literary organization, and also a charter member of the Kensington Art Club, and she has membership connection with the Garden Club of Youngstown. The varied purposes of these different organi- zations show the breadth and scope of her interests and indicates that her activities have always been put forth along progressive and constructive lines.
MARY CATHERINE ALLEN KINNEY
MARY CATHERINE ALLEN KINNEY, president for twenty-five years of the Xenia Woman's Club, organized in 1867 and one of the oldest of the entire country, was born in that city in 1840 and died there at the age of ninety-seven.
Mrs. Kinney was the daughter of the Hon. John B. and Sarah Nunnemaker Allen. Her father belonged to a family of English descent settled at Mt. Jackson, Va., and her mother's people came from Clear Spring, Maryland. In 1809 the family moved to Ohio to make their home.
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Mary Catherine was graduated from the Xenia Female Seminary in 1858 later studying in Philadelphia.
In 1862 she was married to Coates Kinney, who became a colonel in the Civil War. Colonel Kinney became widely known as an author, notably for his poem entitled, "Rain on the Roof."
The deep interest which Mrs. Kinney took in the civic, social and cultural life of her city and her state was reflected in numerous activities and her services will long live in the memories of her fellow citizens.
GLADYS MOSER KNEE
While the chief interest of GLADYS MOSER KNEE (Mrs. Robert C. Knee), is her home and family, she has that breadth of vision and keen discernment that makes her recognize the close connection of the home with all those forces which make for cultural development in the individual and for progress and definite achievement along civic lines and thus she is an active worker in many organizations which make for personal and community betterment.
Residing at 111 Stockton Avenue, she has been a resident of Dayton since 1914 and prior to that time lived at Port Royal, Pennsylvania, for she was born September 29, 1901, in Perry County, of the Keystone State. Her parents, Rev. Irwin Oscar and Margaret Jane (Rice) Moser, were both of German descent, the former born November 26, 1868, and the latter February 27, 1872. Her father was a minister of the Lutheran Church until his death in 1936 and brought up his daughter in that faith and in a belief in Republican principles, and while she may not have always adhered to his political teach- ings in later years, his counsel at least awakened in her the strong desire to maintain high standards of citizenship. She began her education in the grammar schools of Port Royal, Pennsylvania and with the removal of the family to Dayton, here continued her studies in the public schools, being graduated from the Steele High School with the class of 1920. Through the succeeding scholastic year she attended Oberlin Conservatory and in 1925 won her Bachelor of Arts degree at Wittenberg College. Her first public work was done as assistant in dramatic work at the Steele High School in 1921-22, after which she was assistant in the speech department at Wittenberg for two years and through the summer sessions from 1923 to 1925. She was married in Dayton, October 16, 1926, to Robert C. Knee and has since centered her interests in her home and the care of her young son, Robert Carl, Jr., ten years of age, but has recognized as well the duties and obligations of citizen- ship and that each individual owes a service to his fellowmen, so that she has used her talents along those lines as well. In September, 1938, she was assistant chairman of the Northwest Territory celebration for Montgomery County. She belongs to the Nomad Club of Dayton and has directed many dramatic presentations for that and other organizations in Dayton and sur-
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rounding towns. She has also tried to keep up her music, in which she early developed considerable talent, and in February, 1938, she was one of the pianists when the Dayton Piano Symphony appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York City, nor has she allowed her interest in drama to wane, for she appeared with the Dayton Theater group as Candida in Bernard Shaw's play of that name, under the direction of Owen Phillips of Cincinnati, in November, 1936, this being her first appearance as an actress since playing Ophelia in Hamlet in her senior year in college.
Mrs. Knee belongs to the Alpha Delta Pi, a woman's social fraternity, the Theta Alpha Phi, a national honorary dramatic fraternity and the Tau Kappa Alpha, an international honorary debating fraternity, which was formerly for men only, she being the first woman to be admitted at Witten- berg College in 1922, and she was president of that chapter from 1922 to 1924. She is an active member of the Dayton Music Club and was councillor of the Junior Music Club of Dayton for four years, while she is now serving for the fourth year as legislative chairman of the Ohio Federation of Music Clubs. She is also active in the College Women's Club of Dayton and she has held various offices in the past and is now president of the Dayton Federation of Clubs, which has a membership of sixty-three clubs in Dayton and sur- rounding towns with a total membership of five thousand one hundred and sixty-one women. That she is doing most effective work is shown in the fact that in 1938 nine new clubs were added with a membership of ten hundred and ninety-five. As president, she directs the many activities of the Dayton Federation in its various departments of public welfare, fine arts, American home, American citizenship, education, scholarship, international relations and work of the blind. There are one hundred and sixty women on these committees doing a magnificent piece of work along definite and clearly determined lines and deserving great credit for what is being accomplished.
Mrs. Knee has been particularly active in trying to awaken the interest of seemingly indifferent mothers of future Americans in vital questions of the day and arouse in them a desire to become more ardent patriotic citizens. The year when the school foundation program was passed in the state legis- lature Mrs. Knee personally made sixty-three speeches in Montgomery County schools, including Dayton, only missing ten in the entire county, for she realizes how important it is that women should be aroused to their civic responsibilities in regard to legislative matters and public problems. These she personally studies and while her father brought her up to believe in Republican principles, she now places the public good before partisanship and votes for men and measures rather than party. It is the influence of such women who are making for progress in Ohio.
CAROLINE ADELINE KOEHRMAN
For thirty-six years CAROLINE ADELINE KOEHRMAN has been a member of the Toledo Woman's Club, which is indicative of her interest in
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all those questions and activities which have engaged the attention of women's clubs almost from their initial development. The civic problems and the cultural interests, as well as the philanthropic work of such organizations, have claimed her thought and her efforts and she has been associated with several such organizations in Toledo.
Mrs. Koehrman is the wife of John William Koehrman, a well known business man of Toledo, and is a daughter of Cyrus and Ida Elizabeth (Williamson) Warner, both of whom were natives of Ohio and lived in Van Wert County until the death of Mr. Warner. The mother now makes her home in Marion, this state. Mrs. Koehrman was born in Van Wert County and was educated at Tiffin, Ohio, to which place her mother removed after the father's death. She was there graduated from the high school and it was there that she and her only sister, now Mrs. John R. Ford of Marion, spent most of their girlhood.
In 1907 Caroline A. Warner became the wife of John William Koehrman and they removed to Toledo, where her husband was born and has always lived. Their wedding ceremony was performed by Dr. D. D. Bigger of the Presbyterian Church at Tiffin, who had baptized her in her infancy. Mrs. Koehrman joined the Toledo Woman's Club soon after she came here as a bride and has continued active in the organization through all the intervening years to the present, few of its members having the right to claim such long and loyal identifications with this splendid society. She is also a past president of the Educational Club and she belongs to the Presbyterian Church. Both Mr. and Mrs. Koehrman are very fond of travel and have taken many trips to various parts of the country, among their most recent being a trip to the San Francisco Fair. They have a wide acquaintance in Toledo and the hospitality of the best homes of the city is always freely accorded them.
MARY ALLEN KRAMER
MARY ALLEN KRAMER (Mrs. William R. Kramer) of Chillicothe has been connected with social service work in Chillicothe for several years and is always interested in those projects whereby the home and the individuals are related to the public welfare. Born July 14, 1910 on a farm in Ross County, not far from Chillicothe, she is a daughter of Joseph Allen, also a native of this county. Her girlhood days were spent on the home farm and her early educational training was supplemented by study in the Chilli- cothe High School and in Ohio Wesleyan University, being graduated from the latter institution with the class of 1933. While in college Mrs. Kramer was extremely active in athletics, being interested in swimming, basketball, hockey, baseball, tennis, soccer, bowling and track and was a representative of Girls Dormitory. She then took up the study of social science and other educational interests, with which she has since been prominently identified.
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In June, 1937, Mary Allen became the wife of William R. Kramer, a hardware merchant of Chillicothe. Notwithstanding her home interests and social activities she has always found time for active participation in clubs and in welfare work. She is a member of the Sigma Kappa, a social sorority and the Phi Pi Epsilon, an honorary physical education sorority. She is now president of the Inter Sorority Council, embracing six local sororities, and she belongs to the New Century Club. She is also treasurer of the board of the Young Women's Christian Association, is secretary of the Ross County Welfare Association, is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and is a member of the League of Women Voters of Ross County. She is chairman of the ladies auxiliary of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. Mrs. Kramer also took graduate work toward her M.A. degree in social administra- tion at Ohio Wesleyan University and is a charter member of Beta Sigma Phi, professional women's sorority. She is on the advisory board of the City Safety Committee and is serving as an American National Red Cross ex- aminer. For four summers she was head counselor of a large girls camp near Cleveland. All these indicate the nature and breadth of her interests and that her attention is concentrated upon activities that make for individual improvement and public progress.
ANNIE LAWS
Most visitors to the far famed municipal University of Cincinnati voice enthusiastic admiration of various fine buildings, the equipment they house and the range of higher education made possible within them. Those touring the University for the first time, moreover, seem to leave most reluctantly that portion of the College of Education Building known as the Annie Laws Memorial.
This is a semi-detached unit of the first floor which includes a handsome and spacious auditorium, a physical activities room, a workshop center for training in industrial, applied and fine arts work and an organization room supplemented by a kitchen, locker and rest rooms.
In order that this memorial could be established in honor of ANNIE LAWS, a sum of approximately $75,000.00 was raised in 1930 by the Cin- cinnati Kindergarten Association Board, by alumnae of the former Cincinnati Kindergarten Training School, work of which is now conducted under the College of Education, by the Federation of Mothers Clubs of Cincinnati and by numerous friends and admirers of this truly remarkable Cincinnati woman.
In a widely circulated pamphlet gotten out by a committee headed by the Rev. Frank H. Nelson at the time the memorial project was launched. there is set down this tribute.
"At rare intervals there appears a person who, because of genius and zeal for the public good, so succeeds in achieving that she becomes an out- standing figure of her day and generation. Such a person was Annie Laws."
The late ANNIE LAWS distinguished Cincinnati Club Woman
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At the time of her death, in 1927, Annie Laws was 72 years of age. In her three score years and ten she had launched and developed so many undertakings that, in the words of this memorial. The listing of her many local interests seems a roll call of the progressive steps made by Cincinnati toward its present high position. She helped to found the Cincinnati Kinder- garten Association and the Cincinnati Kindergarten Training School (1879) ; School of Nursing and Health of the College of Medicine, University of Cin- cinnati, formerly the Cincinnati Training School for Nurses (1889) ; Cin- cinnati Woman's Club (1894) ; Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs (1894) ; Federation of Mothers' Clubs of Cincinnati and Vicinity, formerly the Gen- eral Association of Mothers' Clubs of Cincinnati and Vicinity (1896) ; School of Household Administration of the University of Cincinnati, formerly the School of Household Arts (1910).
Nationally, she aided as an incorporator of the General Federation of Women's Clubs (1896) ; as president of the Woman's Columbian Exposition Association (1892-94) ; and as chairman, Committee of Nineteen, of the Inter- national Kindergarten Union, and as president, International Kindergarten Union (1903-1905). Internationally she participated in founding the Kin- dergarten Unit in France during the World War.
At the time of her death, Miss Laws, according to the memorial record, held membership in the Boards of Directors of-The Community Chest and Council of Social Agencies; Cincinnati Kindergarten Association; Cincinnati Orphan Asylum. Also in the Social Hygiene Society; Better Motion Picture Council; and the Miami Council of Women of the American Indian Order, Inc. She was a life member of the Cincinnati Woman's Club, Cincinnati Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Cincinnati Art Museum Association, Cincinnati Kindergarten Association, Cincinnati Orphan Asylum, Bodmann Widow's Home, Visiting Nurse Association, American Red Cross, American Peace Society, Historical and Philosophical Society of Ohio, Mary Washington Memorial Association, George Washington Memorial Association, American Association for the Advancement of Science, International Kinder- garten Union, Ohio Branch of the National Congress of Mothers and Parent- Teachers Associations, Ohio Branch of the Shut-in Society. Cincinnati Kin- dergarten Training School Alumnae Association, and the Ohio Kindergarten Association. Other organizations honored by her membership were: Woman's City Club, Social Workers Club, Endowment Fund Association of the Uni- versity of Cincinnati, Needlework Guild, National Education Association, and the Women's Committee of Sulgrave Institute. Many of these clubs were served by her as parliamentarian, for she was an expert in parliamentary procedure. Seldom has any city produced a citizen so interested and com- petent in all matters pertaining to civie, social, educational and artistic de- velopments ; moreover, her interest was vital and personal, never formal nor perfunctory.
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Annie Laws was born in Cincinnati, January 20, 1855 and died July 1, 1927. Her father was James H. Laws and her mother was SARAH A. LANGDON LAWS, the daughter of Elam Langdon who headed the board of education when Cincinnati public schools were first established.
Annie's training in the public and then in private schools developed her unique talent for organization while at the same time it awakened her to the realization of the many lacks and crying needs of the average educa- tional opportunity of that day and age.
By the time she had reached maturity, Miss Laws was in the van of organized efforts to meet what seemed to her the most vital of these edu- eational, cultural and social needs. By the time she had reached later middle age she was an acknowledged leader among women working for the better- ment of Cincinnati schools and other phases of public education.
So it was that when Miss Laws was elected a member of the Cincinnati Board of Education, which she served from 1912 to 1916, she brought to the administration of the Cincinnati Public Schools a background rich in edu- cational experience. She had pioneered not only locally but nationally and internationally in the development of the kindergarten movement. Out of her interest in children have grown three local educational organizations of far reaching consequence. She nurtured these as educational experiments, and, with remarkable self-resignation, turned each, when sufficiently strong, to the municipal University for permanent direction and control. Hence from her work have sprung the strong and national recognized program of Kin- dergarten-Primary Education, of the College of Education; the School of Nursing and Health, of the College of Medicine and the School of Household Administration. In recognition of her achievement the University honored itself in June, 1924, in presenting to Miss Laws the honorary degree, MAS- TER OF EDUCATION. In introducing her formally to President Fred- erick C. Hicks, the Dean of the College of Education, Professor L. A. Pech- stein. fittingly summed up the educational career of the honored candidate in the following words :
"To few is given the opportunity to touch the life of a great city, to fewer still the life of the nation. One comes here who has influenced for good not only her city, but also, along broad national lines, three major fields of education : Training the girl for motherhood, the care of the sick, and the education of little children."
EMMA GARMHAUSENN LE MASTER
EMMA GARMHAUSENN LE MASTER has been a resident of Sidney since 1914 and throughout the intervening period of a quarter of a century she has ever manifested a helpful interest in those measures and projects which have contributed to the development and upbuilding of the city, par- ticularly along the line of moral progress. She is the widow of Dr. O. O. Le
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Master and a daughter of John and Mary Garmhausenn, both of whom were natives of Germany. However they came to the new world prior to their mar- riage, which event was celebrated at Lock-two, Ohio, a town built by Mr. Garmhausenn. They had a family of five daughters and six sons, but five of the sons are now deceased.
The daughter Emma acquired her education in the schools of New Bremen, Ohio, being graduated from the high school there with the class of 1899. In 1907 she became the wife of Dr. O. O. Le Master, of Sidney, who was a native of Indiana. He was a graduate of Starling Medical College, which has since been merged with Ohio State University and he began practice in Kettlersville, Ohio, where he remained until 1914, when he brought his family to Sidney and here followed his profession until his death. Dr. and Mrs. Le Master became the parents of one daughter, now Mrs. George Billing, and the mother of two children, Mary Ann and Patricia Elaine.
Mrs. Le Master has long been prominent in the social circles of Sidney and her home is noted for its warm hearted hospitality. She is president of the Woman's Club of Sidney and a member of all three of its departments. She also belongs to the Eastern Star and has membership in St. Paul's Evan- gelical church. She has always been much interested in religious education and took a teachers training course of study in Elmhurst College of Elmhurst, Ohio, thus qualifying for her church work. It is also interesting to note that she was the founder of the Dorcas Circle of St. Paul's church and she has cooperated most heartily in all branches of church activity.
ANNETTE PHELPS LINCOLN
ANNETTE PHELPS LINCOLN, former D. A. R. state regent, was born at Yankeetown, Fayette County, Ohio, in the year 1844, and, having lost her parents at an early age, was reared in the family of her father's aunt, Mrs. Jane Dresbach, in London, Ohio. She attended the public schools in London, was a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University at Deleware and afterwards taught school in London, Columbus, Hillsboro and Delaware.
On September 7, 1871, she married Judge George Lincoln, who died May 22, 1905. After her husband's death, Mrs. Lincoln made her home with Attor- ney John Lincoln in London, Ohio.
Mrs. Lincoln was selected State Regent of the Ohio Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, at Washington, D. C. in April, 1911. On Flag Day, June 14, 1911, she and Senator J. B. Foraker were speakers at a meeting of the D. A. R. held in Cincinnati. She was a member-at-large of the Ohio State Woman's Suffrage Association; charter member of the London Fortnightly Club and a president of the Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs.
While on her way to the thirteenth annual conference of the D. A. R. at Sandusky, Mrs. Lincoln was stricken by sickness at Ravenna and died Novem- ber 1, 1911.
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FLORENCE EDITH CURE LONGFELLOW
Among the residents of Bellefontaine who can trace their ancestry back to the colonial period in American history is FLORENCE EDITH CURE LONGFELLOW, wife of Dr. J. C. Longfellow. Family records show that William Cure was born in 1754 and in 1776 married Sarah Brown, who was born in 1758. Their eleventh child was John Cure, who was born in 1802 and who was the great-grandfather of Mrs. Longfellow. He wedded Dorothy Ferris in 1825 and their fifth child, who was born in 1833, married Martha Hannon. Of their family Lewis Cure was the eldest. He was born in Ohio in 1856 and for many years he engaged in the grocery business. He was also superinten- dent of the Children's Home for an extended period and he is now living in the Methodist Home in Cincinnati, for his wife, who bore the maiden name of Mary Ellen Carr and was also a native of this state, passed away in January, 1935. They had but two children, the son being Huber Cure, an official of the American Can Company, now living in Oakland, California.
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